Surgery Day

Let me preface this post with, yes, I know Jacob will probably one day question why I would tell the world about his "procedure" but isn't that what mothers are supposed to do? Also, any of you that don't want to hear any references to the male bits and pieces - stop reading now. You have been warned!

One more thing to note - I NEED to get Mike a new camera! The resolution and graininess is driving me nuts and there is only so much repair that can be done in Photoshop!

OK - on to the official post! We headed out of our glorious desert abode around 5:20AM today after our most wonderful, special, devoted, gracious, thoughtful (how am I doing?) friend Sally arrived to get the other two up, fed, dressed and off to school. (I do have to add that Sally still made it over even after her sweet baby girl didn't go to sleep until 4:20AM! What a good friend!) I do also have to throw in a huge amount of gratitude to Elizabeth's future mother-in-law, Amanda for taking my hoodlums to school. If it weren't for the support of all of my wonderful friends here, I'm not sure we would have made it through the day so unscathed. I have to stop or I am going to get mushy in talking about these girls being we are all leaving each other in June to go to different bases. Uuugghh! That was a tangent!

Anyway, like I said, we left the house o'dark early with a little confused boy strapped in the car seat in the back wondering what on earth Mommy and Daddy were up to now.

We arrived at UCLA around 7:45AM after sitting in A LOT of traffic. (A word of advice - stay away from LA during rush hour traffic!) We were off to the surgery suite with little man in tow and still slightly confused as to what we were up to. We got checked in and pre-oped in a very short amount of time. Jacob was given a drug called Versed to relax him before they took him back. Both AJ and Elizabeth have had this in the past and I know it makes them act stoned but I think we are going to have to watch out with Jacob - he was loving life!!! I felt bad laughing at his antics but it was just too funny. He thought the camera was the funniest thing!

Once he was sufficiently doped up, the surgeon came and got him and it was off to the OR for him and to the waiting room for Mike and I. The surgery lasted about 75 VERY LONG minutes.

Oh - for those of you that don't know, Jacob went in for a circumcision revision. Mike and I chose to have him circumcised when he was born and had the procedure done at 2 days old. All said and done, the doctor that did the procedure back then did not do a very good job and made my poor little man look goofy as well as caused a few other problems that no mother should every have to go into or think about when it comes to her son. That being said, we decided while he was still young and we had the resources available to us to have good doctors take care of him, we would have it revised. He went in to have it pee-pee made pretty again. I will spare you any more details than that.

Recovery was a little difficult as he was very confused and irritated when he came out of anaesthesia. He cried, screamed and thrashed a bit for about 30-40 minutes without any of us being able to provide him with any comfort or consolation. Finally, while Mike was at the pharmacy getting his discharge meds, I covered his face with his blankie and the crying stopped immediately. We finally figured out that he just didn't want to see anyone - not even Mike with the camera.

Once he settled down, we were discharged and it was back home for us. He fell asleep in the car on the ride home and pretty much slept the entire way. When we got home, he vegged on the couch with me for a little bit, ate a banana, and then asked to go "ni-ni" in his crib. (That's code for sleep or "night-night".) He then slept until 4PM when the other two arrived home from school with all of their exuberant energy in tow. Jacob played a little, ate a good dinner (THANK YOU SO MUCH EMILY!) and then it was into pj's for him. He was in bed by 7:30PM and I am hoping that we have a good night.

I must say, this all had my nerves in a bunch for a while but I am so glad it is over with. The guilt I was carrying around about having to redo an elective procedure with another elective procedure was getting to be too much. It is terribly heart breaking to see your children go through any type of surgery or procedure. I am just thankful that my children are healthy and that we are lucky enough not to have to deal with anything major.

Love you Jacob - and here is to a pretty pee-pee!